Education

By DAVID DUPONT BG Independent News Bowling Green State University continues to hover just above the 100 mark for the Top Public National Universities by U.S. News and World Report. That’s down a bit from last year, when BGSU was 101 in U.S. News & World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges”, and lower on the list than President Mary Ellen Mazey would like to be. “There’s always room for improvement,” she said. Still she said she was pleased. The ranking puts BGSU in the top tier of national public universities, along with three of its sister Ohio institutions – Miami, Ohio University and Kent State. BGSU placed 194th on the overall National University list. The top 20 schools there are all private institutions, Mazey said, with large endowments. “We do compete with them,” she said. She feels BGSU holds its own, probably because of cost. The university was ranked 184th in the Best Undergraduate Business Programs category. Some do question the value of the rankings. “There’s a debate about it,” Mazey said. “I know some of my predecessors here didn’t put as much emphasis on it. But our parents and students look at these rankings, so therefore I think it’s important.” BGSU has been in the 90s and lower 100s for a number of years. Mazey said she was impressed with BGSU’s 92nd ranking when she arrived in 2011. “If you place an emphasis, you can move,” she said. “But then again, everyone’s trying to do that. It’s a very competitive environment. We’re going to have a greater emphasis on it this…

From BGSU MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS STEM in the Park, a free family day of hands-on fun at Bowling Green State University, will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sept. 24 at the Perry Field House, with plenty of free parking available. STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) in the Park will feature interactive displays and activities created by community partners, local businesses and area universities to engage children of all ages in the STEM fields. More than 140 unique hands-on STEM activity stations will be offered for individuals and families to enjoy. This event allows participants to make ice cream, dabble in robotics, launch pop rockets, pet lizards and much more. Everyone who attends the event will receive an event map, take home free STEM materials and activity ideas, and enjoy a complimentary catered lunch. Last year’s event drew more than 4,300 visitors from northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan. Back by popular demand is the “Science of Sports” zone, which displays activity stations that examine how fast participants can run, how high participants can jump, and how far participants can throw a ball. New this year will be a golf simulator where participants can take part in the longest drive contest. A “Roots to STEM Pre K-2” zone also returns this year, which features activities that cater specifically to younger children. The STEM Stage will once again feature super-sized demonstrations from Imagination Station and the Soar & Explore Bird Show presented by the Toledo Zoo. New activities for 2016 include the H2O Zone, where visitors can explore the…

By BG INDEPENDENT NEWS (This is the last of our blog posts about the Black Swamp Arts Festival. See you next year.) Every year I get that wistful feeling when Main Street in downtown Bowling Green reverts to its workaday self after the two and a half days of the Black Swamp Arts Festival. It’s like seeing the first discarded Christmas tree on the curb. The festival came off well. All those weather worries proved for naught. Saturday had intermittent showers, and late in the afternoon there were sudden hard gusts of wind, that had artists and helpers scurrying to better secure their booths. But that passed. If they gave a best of show honors for weather, Sunday would certainly be a top contender. One thing artists have consistently noted is that when it rains at the Black Swamp Arts Festival, the crowds seek cover in shops and booths and then return as soon as the rain stops. They don’t just go away. The result was Saturday wasn’t a bad day for art sales, and Sunday was far better. Ceramicist Jan Bostwick said she and her partner were “clicking our heels” over the amount of pottery she moved, and fabric artist Becca Levenson gleefully compressed her remaining stock into less than two feet of rack space. Now they’ll be back to work, producing more merchandise for their next fairs. Others didn’t fare as well. Jeweler Amy Beeler said hers were all right. That’s been true the entire season. She’d been told by veteran exhibitors that sales always get slow during…

At 10:15 pm Tuesday, an automated call and email went out to Bowling Green parents informing them that due to predicted heat, Conneaut and Kenwood Elementaries and BG Senior High School will all release students two hours early tomorrow, Wednesday September 7. The Middle School and Crim Elementary will complete their days normally due to air conditioning in those buildings. The text of the call and email is as follows: “Dear parents and guardians, With the tomorrow’s temperatures rising and potentially creating unsafe conditions for our students, Wednesday, September 7 Conneaut Elementary, Kenwood Elementary, and Bowling Green Senior High School will be on a two-hour early release. The Elementary schools will dismiss at 1:30pm, while the High School will dismiss at 12:32. Crim Elementary and Bowling Green Middle School will dismiss at normal times. We understand that this could create an inconvenience to you schedules but it is being done with our student’s health and safety in mind. Bobcat Proud, Superintendent Francis Scruci”

By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN BG Independent News After last week’s plea for bus drivers by Bowling Green City Schools, 14 people contacted the district to express interest in transporting students to and from school. But people have to go through training and background checks before they get behind the wheel of a school bus – so the school district is short on drivers again this week for some of the 1,700 students who rely on bus transportation. “Remember that it is a process from being interested to getting certified, but if everything goes well by the end of the month things should be in better shape. We will still continue to search for additional drivers,” Superintendent Francis Scruci said Monday evening in an email to parents. “With that being said, this week we still face a shortage of drivers,” Scruci wrote. So this week, the following routes will be affected: Bus #22, Tuesday morning and afternoon. Routes that will be delayed will be 8, 18 and 21. Bus #3, Tuesday Routes that will be delayed are 2 and 17. Bus #22, Wednesday Routes that will be delayed will be 8, 18 and 21. Bus #22, ThursdayRoutes that will be delayed will be 8, 18 and 21. Any time a driver can’t be found for one route, it affects other routes that have to compensate for the missing driver. That means some students are getting to school and returning home late. The district has 21 full-time drivers and 11 substitutes. The problem is that 23 full-time drivers are needed, and seven…

By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN BG Independent News Wanted: Someone willing to get behind the wheel of a school bus as early as 5:50 a.m., to drive 60 unchaperoned students to and from school each day. Not exactly a dream job. “I’ve always said bus drivers are the bravest people I know. They turn their back on 60 teenagers,” Bowling Green Superintendent Francis Scruci said Monday. Like many school districts, Bowling Green City Schools is having trouble filling the drivers’ seats in its buses. On Tuesday afternoon, Scruci sent out an email to all parents and guardians informing them of problems the shortage might cause. Some of the solutions to the shortage will result in some late drop off times on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, according to the email. Following are some of the problems expected: On Wednesday, Bus 22 has no driver. Buses possibly impacted will be 4, 8, 20, 21. This will probably delay drop off times for Kenwood Elementary students riding those buses. On Thursday, Bus 22 has no driver. Buses possibly impacted will be 4, 8, 20, 21. This will probably delay drop off times for Kenwood Elementary students riding those buses. Also Bus 3 for the high school has no driver. Buses impacted will be 2, 4, 8,17. This will likely delay high school and Crim Elementary students. On Friday, Bus 3 for high school has no driver. Buses impacted will be 2, 4, 8, 17. This will likely delay high school and Crim Elementary students. The email from Scruci ends with this plea: “If…

By DAVID DUPONT BG Independent News President Mary Ellen Mazey used her State of the University event to recap the success of the past year, and focus the university’s sights on what she sees as “a very strong” future. That included some bold goals. She told a full house at the Donnell Theatre that she would like to see the university head count, which includes all students whether full-time or taking a single course, to 25,000. That’s a 29-percent increase from the 19,352 from the current student body headcount. She added “we envision a retention rate of 80-85 percent.” That’s up from the current 76-percent rate. A year from now, she said, she’d like that to be 80 percent. How many students the university keeps from enrollment though graduation is a key factor in how much money it gets from the state. After her talk Mazey said that given current trends, this level of enrollment could be reached by 2020. Mazey spelled out the most recent data points in her address. The university for the third year in a row is enrolling its best academically prepared class ever with an average GPA of 3.42 and an average ACT score of 22.8. Better prepared students are more likely to stay on campus through graduation. The headcount also benefited from the new College Credit Plus program that allows high school students, and some even in middle school, to take college courses. The program, Mazey said, “has exceeded expectations.” Last spring the university had 1,286 students enrolled in College Credit Plus programs. Mazey…

By FRANCES BRENT “And Candy Smiled” was Carole Sarkan’s first book about a wonderfully hyperactive dog that lost a leg to a passing car. Carole Sarkan’s simple words and Emily Christoff-Flowers’ lush illustrations mesh to tell a story full of the joy and energy of life embodied by one cuddly and expressively noisy dog casually overcoming a real disability. In the just published companion book, “And Candy Lived,” the message of the power of love continues. Death is never mentioned and life goes on in settings created by love, imagination and memory. The scenes and sentiments are “So North West Ohio,” yet touch on the universal themes of love, family and transcending sorrow. These are books to be read aloud and then savored alone for the gorgeously romantic illustrations and the sheer dogginess that touches our human psyche. We love our dogs. Think how the New Orleans floods showed that bond. To say children’s author Carole Sarkan is local is almost to re-define the term. Born and schooled in Bowling Green, she graduated from BGSU and lives in Grand Rapids. Carole student taught in Bowling City with her former sixth grade teacher and spent her entire public school career teaching in the BG system. Keeping the local story going, Carole, then at Crim, taught three granddaughters of her 6th grade teacher (me). Time passed – and Carole, the one-time second grader, joined her seco And Candy Livednd grade teacher as a colleague at the Liberty Building. Now they are both retired and friends. Of course the wonderful illustrator, a BG treasure named Emily Christoff-Flowers, is a former classmate…

By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN BG Independent News The library at Bowling Green High School was uncharacteristically popular during the first five days of school last week. It is air conditioned. But in other classrooms, the teachers were drenched with sweat and the students were drowsy from the heat. Clay Kalaf-Hughes’ classroom was the winner in the fan count – with seven working fiercely to cool the room in the early afternoon. “I get here super early, to try to get cool air in,” Kalaf-Hughes said. But it’s more of a psychological than actual relief. “It’s perception, that if it’s moving around, it’s cooling.” The temperatures – which have been measured at over 100 in some classrooms – make it difficult for even the most dedicated students to say focused in class. “It’s a struggle to have students concentrate in such a hot environment,” said Kalaf-Hughes, who teaches English and history. “It’s a real battle.” The high school is one of three Bowling Green City School buildings to not have air conditioning. Kenwood and Conneaut elementaries also have none, while the Middle School and Crim Elementary do have cooling. The first and last weeks of the school year can be brutal for students and staff in the sweltering buildings. Superintendent Francis Scruci has referred to the students as pools of butter sitting in the heat. The sauna like temperatures don’t make for a good learning – or teaching – environment. High School Principal Jeff Dever concurs. “It’s just a show stopper,” he said of the oppressive heat in the school….

(From BG City Schools) The annual Bobcat Fan Fair will be held Saturday. This is free, family fun event at the High School Athletic Stadium. There will be much to see and to do. Gates open at 4:00pm and the fun builds from there. The High School band will march in at 4:30 accompanied by an antique fire truck carrying the cheerleaders. After the band performs, Board of Education member Ellen Scholl will sing the Star Spangled Banner. Mayor Richard Edwards will be on hand to cut the ribbon dedicating the new stands and Superintendent Francis Scruci will welcome everyone. The Athletic teams will then be introduced by their coaches as they parade onto the field. Fans will then be invited to come on down to the track to meet the coaches and student athletes as well as participate in many games and activities. Students from the elementary schools through middle school can win a free Bobcat Proud T-shirt by visiting each table and completing their “passport.” All students who complete a passport will be entered in a drawing to win a student “all-sport” pass for the entire school year. There will be food! The High School teachers are offering a hot dog meal (hot dog, chips, cookie and drink) for only $3.00, which will benefit their scholarship fund. Drinks and snow cones will also be available for purchase but the ice-cream is FREE! This is not only an excellent opportunity for families to spend some time together, their young students will be inspired to work hard to get to…

By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN BG Independent News Students not only need to conjugate sentences and calculate math equations, but they also have to wash cars, serve up pancakes and peddle candy bars. Schools have used student fundraisers for years to help support extra curriculars, but Bowling Green City Schools may be relying on them a bit much, according to Superintendent Francis Scruci. “It seems like everybody is trying to fundraise,” he said during Tuesday’s board of education meeting. “And I think it’s becoming a problem.” Scruci reported on two fundraisers going on this coming weekend, when the athletic boosters will raise money from people test driving new cars, and when the band boosters hold a couple pancake breakfasts. It’s not that the ingenuity or the volunteer efforts aren’t admirable. It’s just that people get tired of being hit up for school fundraisers he said. “In a community this size, we’re tapping into the same people all the time,” Scruci said. Just this week, the superintendent said he got a phone call from a citizen complaining that after one day of school there was already a student at her door trying to sell something to raise funds for a school related activity. It appeared to this person that the focus on the first day of school was to get the kids out hawking for support. “That’s not what’s going on,” Scruci said. Scruci praised the efforts of school booster groups and other community organizations that try to raise funds for children. “Different groups and organizations are trying to help kids,”…

By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN BG Independent News In front of an auditorium packed with student athletes and their parents, school officials broke the news. Bowling Green athletes will no longer be able to play sports if they can’t score at least a C average in their classes. Bowling Green Superintendent Francis Scruci and new Athletic Director Jonas Smith agreed that the former standard of a 1.7 grade point average is no longer good enough to be able to play sports. Student athletes will now have to achieve at least a 2.0 GPA. “Athletics is a privilege, not a right,” Scruci told the athletes and their parents last week. While sports may be more enjoyable than scholastics for some students, the chances of athletics helping them get to college is very, very slim. Of the 750,000 high school athletes in the nation, their performance on the field gets less than 1 percent of them get college scholarships, Scruci said. So from now on, academics come first. “We’ve got to emphasize they are students first,” Smith said. According to Scruci, the new raised GPA requirement should not be difficult for most Bowling Green athletes to achieve. Last year just three student athletes were below the 2.0 GPA. “Schools exist because of academics, not athletics,” Scruci said. Though it wasn’t mentioned at last week’s athletes meeting, Bowling Green City Schools is also considering enacting some type of drug testing program. Most school districts in Wood County already do drug testing of student athletes. “We’ll be looking at it,” Scruci said, adding that…

By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN BG Independent News The Bowling Green mom asked for help not crossing the line between protecting her two children from “bad guys” and making them fearful of the world. “I want them to be cautious, but not paranoid,” she said, Thursday evening during a meeting to help parents talk with their children about troubled times and the violence erupting around the world. The meeting was hosted by the Bowling Green School District and Not In Our Town. “They are overwhelmed,” Rev Gary Saunders, of Not In Our Town, said of many parents wondering how to explain mass shootings and terrorism to their children. “They can’t believe that it’s happening. Yet they have the task of making meaning of this.” A panel of experts who work with children advised that parents talk with their children, and listen to what they have to say. “Children are so very perceptive and they pick up more than we adults realize,” said Ana Brown, coordinator for Diversity Initiatives at Bowling Green State University. “They are going to make meaning of things themselves if you’re not there with them,” said Christina Lunceford, assistant professor of higher education and student affairs at BGSU. Parents were told not to wait until they think their children are old enough to understand the violence. Much of today’s tragedies are not understandable at any age. But even preschoolers are soaking up bits and pieces of what they hear. “The conversations should happen at a very young age and they should be continuous,” Lunceford said. “You can’t…

By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN BG Independent News Students may be anxious about going back to school in the next week or two. Some parents, meanwhile, are nervous about the costs of supplying them for the school year. Depending on the grade, the school supply list can be quite long – notebooks, folders, pens, pencils, oil pastels, markers, scissors, glue, rulers, headphones, scientific calculators – and of course, the backpack to carry it all. Cha-ching. Older kids don’t need the scissors or glue, but they’ve got school expenses of their own like flash-drives, pay-to-play costs for extra-curriculars, band uniform fees, class photos and other niceties. Cha-ching. And of course, there are back to school clothes and footwear. Cha-ching. The average cost for supplies and backpacks – with no frills included – is $85 per child, according to Shannon Fisher, social services supervisor with Wood County Job and Family Services. The total bill can be daunting for families, especially those with multiple children. To help those families unable to handle the costs on their own, nearly 700 stocked backpacks are being given to Wood County children. Wood County Job and Family Services provided backpacks full of school supplies, plus new shoes, for 500 children. And Wednesday, the United Way in Wood County and the Salvation Army teamed up to offer a Back to School Fair at Woodland Mall in Bowling Green. Those agencies worked with local churches, businesses and organizations to collect items for backpacks. “We pooled community resources to have a larger, better coordinated backpack drive,” said Michael Caniglia, communications…

By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN BG Independent News Children no longer line up at the chalkboard, practicing elaborate loops for their cursive writing. Most now communicate using their thumbs on tiny keyboards. To some youth, cursive writing is as mysterious as hieroglyphics – found only in old documents, in rare love letters, or in unreadable signatures. Some see this as a natural progression, others as a tragic loss. “Everything progresses and everything changes,” said Beverly Dennis. “The world is changing and this is where things are going.” Dennis is stuck somewhere in the middle of the cursive controversy. As a genealogist who works in the Wood County local genealogy office, she sees the value of traditional cursive writing. “I think the next generations that come along are going to have a lot of difficulty reading cursive,” she said. To a person who appreciates history, that thought is troubling. “If you didn’t know cursive, it would be more difficult to transcribe these old books. There is so much of it in history.” Plus, there’s a touch of art to cursive writing that just doesn’t exist in typed words. “It’s really beautiful,” Dennis said of cursive with its fancy curves and curls. However, as a grandmother of teenagers, Dennis sees the natural evolution toward keyboards. “Cursive writing probably won’t be around long,” she predicted. “Even at my advanced age, I find myself vacillating between cursive and printing. Printing does seem to be easier than cursive.” Some educators, already feeling pinched for instruction time, see cursive as collateral damage in the fight to…

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